


Override

by boonies



Category: Dong Bang Shin Ki, JYJ - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-05
Updated: 2012-12-05
Packaged: 2017-11-20 08:57:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boonies/pseuds/boonies
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yoochun accidentally goes out with a dude. Junsu finds it super hilarious. Jaejoong... not so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Override

*

 

"It was a dude."

 

Jaejoong slows his chewing.

 

Junsu chokes on his breakfast, spitting rice everywhere. "WHAT."

 

Yoochun gives a shell-shocked sigh. "Noona set me up with a guy."

 

"Which noona?" Junsu laughs through a pained cough.

 

"That short stylist lady from SBS," Yoochun blinks. He glances at his bowl with a blank stare. "I think she thinks I'm gay."

 

"Noonas think _everyone's_ gay," Junsu snorts cheerfully, gulping down water, eyes bright.

 

Jaejoong's not hungry, but he pops a single grain of rice in his mouth and practically grinds it to a fine powder.

 

"Are you gonna see him again?" he asks nonchalantly.

 

Dazed, Yoochun looks at him. "What?"

 

"The guy," Jaejoong prods.

 

Junsu laughs hysterically. "Of course he's not—"

 

"He's a cool dude?" Yoochun shrugs, looking uneasy. "So yeah?"

 

Water dribbles down Junsu's chin.

 

"I just don't... want to seem..." Yoochun struggles around the word, "...homophobic?"

 

Jaejoong almost snaps his chopsticks in half.

 

*

 

 

"He'll kick your ass at Mario Kart," Yoochun assures with a laugh. "He's good."

 

Jaejoong wiggles his ass deeper into the couch, batting at the proffered controller. "I don't like Mario Kart."

 

"He'll be over soon," Yoochun warns, tidying up, "so either you go home or you play nice."

 

"You're not _actually dating_ him," Jaejoong grumbles, toying with the fraying edge of a cushion. "Stop freaking out."

 

Yoochun pauses, one socked foot slipping on the hardwood floor. "Go home."

 

Stubborn, Jaejoong leans on one hand with a frown.

 

The intercom buzzes.

 

Jaejoong is kind of ridiculously happy this guy doesn't have the keycode to get in on his own.

 

Jaejoong has the keycode. Even to the family house. He's known every single password Yoochun's ever picked.

 

Always will.

 

"Be. Nice." Yoochun grits out, running for the door.

 

A couple minutes later, some nondescript guy walks into the house.

 

His hair is okay, his face isn't anything special, his outfit kinda makes Jaejoong want to put the fashion police on speed dial—

 

"Hae-jin," he introduces himself confidently, bowing at a ninety-degree angle.

 

Jaejoong bows his head automatically, feeling glued to the couch.

 

"And this is Jaejoong," Yoochun says flippantly, waving him off. "Think of him as a house plant."

 

Hae-jin laughs.

 

It's irritating.

 

Twice as irritating as Junsu's eu kyang kyang. As bad as a broken blender trying to puree a parrot. Worse than nails, both human and metal, scratching down a giant chalkboard—

 

"—Yoochun's not gay."

 

Shit.

 

That... probably didn't stay inside his head.

 

Judging by the identical bemused looks coming his way, yeah.

 

"Oh, I'm not gay, either," Hae-jin says awkwardly, choosing a spot on the couch a safe distance away. "My noona just thinks we're _all_ gay. She tried to set my brother up with Kibum last year." Off Jaejoong's blank look, he hastily adds, "Oh, I should probably mention my brother's married with, like, four kids. She says he's just really in denial."

 

This guy talks too much.

 

But Yoochun laughs, handing him a can of beer. "You should hear the noona war stories."

 

Jaejoong really doesn't give a shit.

 

"It's easier to just let her set me up at this point," Hae-jin nods, resigned.

 

Yoochun pats his back with sympathy.

 

Jaejoong bristles.

 

*

 

"I'm prettier."

 

Junsu makes a face. "Okay."

 

"And skinnier."

 

Junsu glances at his watch. "Okay."

 

"And taller."

 

Junsu gives him a look.

 

"Fine," Jaejoong concedes. "We're the same height." After a beat and Junsu's incessant staring, Jaejoong grunts, "Okay, he's maybe a millimeter taller."

 

With an accommodating sigh, Junsu nods. "Yes, okay, I agree, you're a hundred times better than some random guy I've never met for reasons I don't fully comprehend..."

 

"...a thousand times, Junsu-yah..."

 

Mournfully, Junsu glances at the studio window, rubbing his mittens to keep warm. "A million times, yes, I'm sorry, can we just go in and record this OST before I freeze my balls off."

 

Jaejoong's not used to Junsu cussing so he pats his shoulder affectionately and hurries inside.

 

Yoochun's waiting in the lobby, massive fluffy shawl wrapped around his neck.

 

"Why are you late," he greets, uptight.

 

"Why are you dating a guy," Jaejoong replies belligerently, punching the elevator call button.

 

Junsu manages to pinch him through seven layers of clothing.

 

"I'm not..." Yoochun starts defensively then shrugs. "I don't know why you don't like him." He steps in front of the elevator, hands clasped behind his back. "Seriously, if he were gay, he'd totally be your type."

 

Junsu makes a small horrified sound, freezing up.

 

Jaejoong's face is burning.

 

He's not even sure why.

 

It just hurts around his eyes and chest and gut and it's not a feeling he associates with Yoochun, isn't even remotely familiar or pleasant.

 

It hurts.

 

"Shit," Yoochun says, voice catching. "Sorry. That's not what. I. Fuck."

 

Junsu jams at the button, chanting under his breath, "Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up—"

 

The elevator arrives with a sharp ding.

 

*

 

 

Jaejoong has a lot of friends.

 

He has acquaintances and close buddies, friends he drinks with, friends he does dramas with, friends he goes camping with.

 

But he only has one Junsu.

 

One Yoochun.

 

That's the only reason why he feels wrecked.

 

Junsu and Yoochun like women. They date women. They'll eventually marry women. Jaejoong knows this, has known it forever.

 

He also knows no woman will ever replace him in their hearts. Especially Yoochun's. Yoochun's heart is taken, has to be. Jaejoong knows this with the kind of certainty gathered over a decade, stitched together slowly and patiently, with the type of care he's never devoted to anything but music.

 

But a guy.

 

A guy could do damage.

 

Mostly to Jaejoong's world-view.

 

"It's a house plant," Jaejoong says, cupping a small cactus pot.

 

Yoochun blinks owlishly.

 

"You called me a house plant," Jaejoong explains, stuffing the cactus in Yoochun's hands. "So I got you one."

 

Yoochun pricks his finger.

 

"Yep," he deadpans, staring at a bead of blood. "Definitely reminds me of you."

 

Jaejoong's head hurts.

 

"I'm sorry," he says honestly but he's not sure what the hell he's apologizing for.

 

He just feels... unhappy.

 

It's a restless, insecure feeling, and Jaejoong's _intimate_ with being insecure, but this is so fucking different.

 

This is un-fixable.

 

He gets that now.

 

Yoochun grins, clearly over it already. "Wanna stay for—"

 

"I'm gonna take a break."

 

Yoochun blanches.

 

Jaejoong averts his gaze. "I'm gonna go to Bali or India or something."

 

Yoochun's knuckles are white around the pot. "Or something."

 

*

 

Bali's sunny and gorgeous and perfect.

 

Jaejoong hates it.

 

He takes a couple of selcas but the more he stares at the pics, the more he thinks he looks like a gargoyle, so he deletes everything, clears his cache just in case, and logs out of twitter.

 

He texts Junsu, slaps on a pair of sunglasses, and sprays himself down with suntan lotion.

 

His phone beeps.

 

_I met Hae-jin._

 

Jaejoong scowls, sitting down on a lounge chair. The backs of his thighs stick to the plastic.

 

He tries to figure out what to say but his screen lights up again.

 

_He likes Yoochun._

 

Jaejoong rolls his eyes and writes back _everyone likes Yoochun._

 

His phone is silent for a few minutes.

 

_No, he LIKES him._

 

An uncomfortable, foreboding kind of tightness squeezes Jaejoong's heart.

 

With slippery fingers, he taps _Hae-jin's not gay._

 

Junsu doesn't text back for nine minutes and forty-seven seconds, and then:

 

_Oh my god, no, he's totally gay._

 

*

 

 

Jaejoong's hyper-aware of the airport crowd.

 

He feels every flash and hears every click and he just wants to go home.

 

He ends up asking the driver to stop for frozen yogurt.

 

He's still sucking on one when he enters his apartment and there, on the coffee table, surrounded by mail and books, is his cactus.

 

Rather, the cactus he gave to that fucking asshole.

 

Fuming, he spins around and barrels outside.

 

*

 

"Welcome back?" Yoochun offers, opening the door.

 

"You changed your passcode," Jaejoong says, stunned.

 

"Yeah, we had some weird identity theft alert thing going on and Yoohwan—"

 

Jaejoong's suddenly exhausted.

 

It's just jet-lag.

 

Yoochun shifts his weight to one leg. "So... what are you doing here?"

 

Jaejoong doesn't know anymore.

 

So he turns around again and goes home.

 

*

 

"Don't tweet about it this time," Jaejoong warns.

 

Yihan laughs, taking a sharp left. He exits the highway and eases off the gas. "Yeah, no, I learned my lesson, thanks."

 

Jaejoong slumps into the seat.

 

Yihan takes the scenic route to... nowhere in particular, really. They stop for water and snacks and then they're maybe somewhere in Pusan when Yihan says, with a knowing smile, "What are we running away from this time?"

 

Jaejoong shrugs. "I'm being replaced."

 

"Who's replacing you?"

 

"Some guy."

 

Yihan taps his fingers on the wheel. "That's really specific."

 

"Yoochun—" Jaejoong starts, frustrated.

 

The words just aren't coming out right. How the hell is he supposed to talk about it when he doesn't even understand what's wrong or why he wants to punch things or ban cacti or get noonas fired.

 

With a faux wise aura, Yihan guns it down a rolling hill and says, "That's why you shouldn't chase straight boys."

 

Jaejoong wants to punch him, too. "I'm not chasing anyone."

 

"Sure."

 

Jaejoong's fingers tighten around his seatbelt. "He's my friend. I don't want him to—"

 

"—have other friends? That's healthy."

 

Jaejoong frowns. "He can have friends. I just don't... he shouldn't date that guy."

 

Yihan ignores a railroad crossing sign, speeding over the tracks. "Which guy should he date?"

 

Jaejoong's going to set him on fire.

 

Frustrated, he growls, "He shouldn't date guys at all. Shit. Stop. Take me home."

 

Yihan takes him to the beach instead.

 

"Are we in a drama?" Jaejoong asks when they stumble out of the car and instantly have to hang back, blindsided by a bitterly cold gust of wind.

 

"I don't care," Yihan says, "I'm taking a pic for twitter."

 

*

 

"Beach in December," Yoochun smirks humorlessly. "Must be nice."

 

Jaejoong takes off his coat and hangs it on the studio rack. "It was."

 

Junsu gives them a morose look. "Everyone's sorry, no one's mad, everything's sunshine and rainbows—"

 

"The managers are flipping their shit," Yoochun says from his corner, headphones around his neck. "Maybe you shouldn't announce your dates on twitter. In the future."

 

A sudden rush of irrational anger crests over Jaejoong.

 

But it's warring with a profound sense of loss.

 

This is wrong.

 

They're supposed to giggle through every recording. They're supposed to sit together, squished in a tiny uncomfortable chair, bumping their heads in thought. Supposed to make fun of Junsu together. Supposed to troll the sound mixers together. Supposed to steal pens and hide trinkets and destroy equipment together.

 

They're just... supposed to be together.

 

Jaejoong can't function without that.

 

Wordlessly, he ignores everyone, slaps on a pair of heavy headphones, sings his parts, then goes home.

 

*

 

_Promise you won't kill the messenger._

 

Jaejoong squints at his phone.

 

He makes out Junsu's name, and then his stomach drops. He draws the sheets over his head but the temptation is too great. He checks his phone again.

 

_Yoochun..._

 

Fuck Junsu and his penchant for melodramatics.

 

_...kinda kissed Hae-jin..._

 

Jaejoong shuts his eyes.

 

His heart is hammering against his ribcage. It's a painful, persistent pinch, so Jaejoong turns his phone off.

 

*

 

"—should _never_ be unreachable," the manager lectures and Jaejoong nods into the phone.

 

To be fair, it was only turned off for two days.

 

He doesn't really see the need for all this drama. There was nothing important on his schedule. And he's not a child. He's not stupid. Or self-destructive.

 

Okay, maybe he's a little self-destructive.

 

"Next time, I'm sending your mother over," the manager threatens good-naturedly.

 

Jaejoong grins and hangs up.

 

He sort of skipped food for, uh... wow, thirty-two hours. He slept for most of those, but still. He should eat.

 

He's pretty hungry anyway.

 

He grabs his phone to scroll through local delivery options when the door to his apartment clicks open.

 

"Change your passcodes occasionally," Yoochun says, barging in like he pays half the rent. He hauls a heavy canvas bag over his shoulder and takes off his shoes.

 

Jaejoong wants to say _hey, what's up_ or _did you bring me food_ or _that looks like your mom's kimbap_.

 

What comes out is, "You kissed that guy."

 

Yoochun freezes, then sighs, clearly annoyed. "I told Junsu not to tell you."

 

Not what Jaejoong wants to hear.

 

At all.

 

Undeterred, Yoochun pads across the hallway and into the kitchen. "Mom's kimbap."

 

Jaejoong can't get his brain to form any other sentence except, "You kissed him."

 

Yoochun takes out a set of wooden boxes and stacks them atop a counter. Casually, he pops a piece of kimbap into his mouth. "So now we've all kissed dudes. No big deal."

 

Jaejoong steps closer.

 

He's so hungry he wants to cry.

 

Yoochun stuffs three pieces into his mouth, mumbling around the food, "Eat."

 

Jaejoong pokes at an end piece and just stares at a dry chunk of seaweed.

 

He's had too much sleep and not enough food so that's why things come tumbling out, words he's never really said out loud, never thought he'd have to or need to or want to say, not to Yoochun, not ever, "I've been gay for... always, and you never—"

 

Yoochun stops chewing.

 

"That's why I wanted to test something out," he says carefully.

 

Jaejoong's stomach lurches.

 

"It didn't work." Yoochun looks away, frustrated. "I like women."

 

Jaejoong leans into the counter.

 

This is nothing new or unexpected.

 

So why does he feel like throwing up.

 

Yoochun closes the top box, fingers trembling, and says, serious, "Not as much as I like you, though."

 

Jaejoong's throat closes up.

 

Yoochun's face is pale. "I don't like anyone as much as I like you," he says with a helpless shrug. "And I don't know what to do about it anymore."

 

Jaejoong pulls him into a desperate embrace.

 

"I guess you don't know either," Yoochun breathes out shakily.

 

 

*

 

 

"That noona's after _me_ now," Junsu cries out, spinning around in the makeup chair.

 

Jaejoong cracks up, then quickly covers his mouth like a sensible adult.

 

"Who is she trying to set you up with?" Yoochun grins, inconspicuously pinching Jaejoong's elbow. "Is he pretty?"

 

Junsu glares. "I am literally so straight they could use me as a ruler in schools."

 

"That sounds kinda kinky," Jaejoong notes with a wicked smile.

 

Yoochun darts an equally evil glance.

 

"YOU KNOW WHAT I MEANT, STOP IT."

 

"Aw," Yoochun coos, in total troll mode. "Before we know it, he'll be buying cacti for some boy."

 

Jaejoong's heart is too full to feel the sting of that memory. "Or returning them."

 

Yoochun blinks. "I didn't return yours."

 

Jaejoong raises an eyebrow.

 

Yoochun makes a frustrated hand gesture. "I _bought_ you one. I kept yours. So we could both have really horrible house plants that hurt our pets and never die?"

 

Jaejoong pauses, ears warm. "Oh."

 

"Yeah," Yoochun says with an exaggerated sigh. "You're not great at noticing things."

 

"Like me, for example," Junsu points out helpfully.

 

Oh.

 

Yeah.

 

They should fix that.

 

So Jaejoong steps closer to Yoochun, shoulders brushing.

 

Yoochun grins at him, eyes bright with something new and dangerous and impossibly real.

 

"I'm always left out," Junsu whines, but he's said this so many times the words have lost effectiveness.

 

Jaejoong's immune.

 

But he should at least try to make it up to him.

 

Especially considering he's going to take Yoochun and not ever share.

 

Jaejoong puts his hand out.

 

Yoochun covers it.

 

"Kim Jaejoong, fighting."

 

Junsu eyes them suspiciously, lips twitching.

 

"Park Yoochun, fighting."

 

Junsu doesn't look very convinced but opens his mouth and slowly sticks out his hand.

 

Yoochun and Jaejoong exchange a glance.

 

"Kim Junsu..."

 

"SON OF A BITCH."


End file.
